초록

The invention concerns a conveyor lane divider for dividing trays that are received in one lane from an infeed conveyor and are passed on to a two-lane production unit. The conveyor lane divider has a line motion control system that can be automatically initialized when starting.

대표청구항 ▼

1. Conveyor lane divider for dividing a one-lane flow of trays into two lanes, the conveyor lane divider comprising: first, second, third and fourth conveyor units in succession in a direction of transport, each of which has a drive;the conveyor lane divider further comprising,a divider unit;a divid

1. Conveyor lane divider for dividing a one-lane flow of trays into two lanes, the conveyor lane divider comprising: first, second, third and fourth conveyor units in succession in a direction of transport, each of which has a drive;the conveyor lane divider further comprising,a divider unit;a divider sensor;two pre-stops;two release stops designed to simultaneously release a first row of trays for further transport to a subsequent production unit; anda lane sensor provided between the release stop and the pre-stop of each lane in order to detect the presence of a tray between the release stop and the pre-stop and/or the back end of a tray for every lane, andwherein a distance from the pre-stop opposite the direction of transport to the beginning of the fourth conveyor unit corresponds to a length of a tray plus a tolerance of up to 20%. 2. Conveyor lane divider according to claim 1, wherein the lane sensors and/or the divider sensor are optical sensors, preferably photoelectric barriers. 3. Conveyor lane divider according to claim 1, wherein the release stops have a common actuator, preferably a pneumatic cylinder. 4. Conveyor lane divider according to claim 1 further comprising a line motion control system that is designed to manage the positions of the tray's along a transport path by a controller. 5. Conveyor lane divider according to claim 4, wherein the controller is the machine control system of the production unit. 6. Conveyor lane divider according to claim 1, wherein a speed of the fourth conveyor unit is higher than a speed of the third conveyor unit, the third conveyor unit being located directly upstream of the fourth conveyor unit in order to produce a distance between two successive trays. 7. Conveyor lane divider according to claim 1, wherein a speed of the second conveyor unit is higher than a speed of the first conveyor unit, the first conveyor unit being located directly upstream of the second conveyor unit in order to produce a distance between two successive trays. 8. Conveyor lane divider according to claim 1, wherein the number of trays of a group of one lane to be further processed in the subsequent production unit can be accommodated between the pre-stops and the divider sensor in each lane of the conveyor lane divider. 9. Conveyor lane divider according to claim 1, wherein the first conveyor unit has a higher friction on the surface interacting with a bottom of the trays than the second conveyor unit. 10. Method for automatically initializing a conveyor lane divider adapted for dividing a one-lane flow of trays into two lanes, the method comprising the steps of: providing a conveyor lane divider having first, second, third and fourth conveyor units in succession in a direction of transport, a divider sensor, two release stops designed to release a first row of trays for further transport to a subsequent production unit, and a lane sensor provided between the release stop and the pre-stop of each lane;providing a line motion control system for managing the positions of trays along a transport path between the divider sensor and the release stops;ascertaining the presence of a tray in each lane ahead of the release stops by means of at least one of the lane sensors, wherein the fourth conveyor unit is moved backward in order to have one of the lane sensors sense a tray that may be present at one of the release stops so as to ascertain the presence of a tray between that release stop and one of the pre-stops, and wherein; a) if no tray has been detected in at least one lane, deactivating the pre-stop of the lane that does not have a tray, and moving the third and fourth conveyor units to convey trays ahead of the release stops;b) if a tray has been detected in both lanes, moving the third and fourth conveyor units and deactivating the release stops and the pre-stops in order to transfer the first row of trays to the production unit, then activating the release stops. 11. Method according to claim 10 further comprising the following steps: starting the third and fourth conveyor units and releasing rows of trays ahead of the release stops until no more trays can be advanced to the release stop in one or both lanes;resetting the line motion control system for the empty lane; andsetting the conveyor lane divider to a lane that has been reset. 12. Method according to claim 11, wherein when just one lane is reset, the first conveyor unit is moved in order to provide the lane that has been reset with the maximum number of trays for a lane of a group until no more trays can be supplied to the release stop in the second lane that has not as yet been reset. 13. Method according to claim 10, wherein, in accordance with a population of the lanes, which is determined by the line motion control system, the trays are distributed to both lanes by means of a divider unit, preferably at least two trays per lane in alternation and less than the designated number per lane of a group. 14. Conveyor lane divider for dividing a one-lane flow of trays into two lanes, the conveyor lane divider comprising: first, second, third and fourth conveyor units in succession in a direction of transport, each of which has a drive;the conveyor lane divider further comprising a divider unit;a divider sensor;a first pre-stop disposed on a first conveyor lane;a second pre-stop disposed on a second conveyor lane;a first release stop disposed on the first conveyor lane, downstream of said first pre-stop;a second release stop disposed on the second conveyor lane, downstream of said second pre-stop, wherein the release stops being operable to simultaneously release a first row of trays for further transport to a subsequent production unit, wherein the release stops have a common actuator; anda first lane sensor provided between the first release stop and the first pre-stop; anda second lane sensor provided between the second release stop and the second pre-stop, wherein the sensors are operable to detect the presence of a tray between the release stop and the pre-stop and/or the back end of a tray. 15. The conveyor lane divider of claim 14 wherein the common actuator is a pneumatic cylinder. 16. The conveyor lane divider of claim 14 wherein the pre-stops and the release stops are disposed on the fourth conveyor unit, the fourth conveyor unit being operable in a direction in reverse of the direction of transport, and the sensors being operable to detect the back end of a tray upon the operation of the fourth conveyor unit in the reverse direction. 17. Conveyor lane divider according to claim 1, wherein the fourth conveyor unit is reversible in its direction of travel.